Beta Wealth Group Inc. Has $827,000 Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Beta Wealth Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,101 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 99 shares during the quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth $1,514,814,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $441,514,000 after purchasing an additional 778,716 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,140,314 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,029,000 after purchasing an additional 669,898 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 13,929.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $834,710,000 after buying an additional 511,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.64.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $2.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $220.89. 3,795,707 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,466,837. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.20. The company has a market cap of $183.54 billion, a PE ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.80. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.13 and a 1-year high of $225.07.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.39%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.